Single dry soap strips

ABSTRACT

A soap substrate in the form of a sheet is dispensed, one by one, from a dispenser. The substrate has a soap emulsion contained therein that will readily be useful to wash one&#39;s hands when exposed to water. The substrate will readily disintegrate when exposed to water leaving the soap emulsion ready for use in cleansing the hands of a user. The soap substrate is normally in a dry state unless exposed to water. The individual sheets may be dispensed from various forms of dispensers to be placed on bathroom counters or on walls thereof.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The single and dry soap strips are used in the sanitary field ofcleansing hands and other body parts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Hand washing saves lives; no question about it. It has been urged to usediluted chlorine to wash hands. There are many better ways and productsfor hand washing than diluted chlorine. Such products are found insqueeze bottles containing liquid soap, so-called “Handy Wipes” whichcome in sealed packages and are wet at all times, and, of course, barsof soap. Daily activities include shaking hands, brushing cheeks with“air kisses” and light hugs which are all opportunities to spreadinfections. Human touch is so important for connecting but one has to becareful to hand wash before eating or touching one's face or mouth.

Frequent hand washing with soap for about twenty seconds is effective.If sinks are not available, then instant hand sanitizers work well andmay be more convenient in many situations. The problem remains that manypublic rest rooms necessitate touching potentially dirty surfaces,including bacteria and viruses, as on faucet handles, paper toweldispensers and doors, after hands have been washed. Just being careful,without being obsessive, can avoid many of those problems. Modernstate-of-the-art rest rooms have electric sensors and physical layoutsthat facilitate avoidance of post hand washing contact.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The inventive placing of soap into the hands of a user consists of awater soluble substrate in the form of a dry strip having a soapsubstance or emulsion embedded therein. The water soluble substrate willimmediately disintegrate when contacted by water, such as in a handwashing procedure, leaving the soap substrate or emulsion in the hand ofthe user ready to do its proposed action and that is to wash the handsof a person.

Single application soaps will be a thin film made from any water solublecarrier. When rubbed with water or wet hands the film will turn to soapsuds. Single applications assure no waste like the remaining soapsremaining in soap pump bottles that will not come out, even when it isempty. The inventive containers will be biodegradable, while a multipleof plastic soap bottles may not be recycled ending up in landfills.

It is important that the water soluble substrate be biodegradable and beuser friendly at the same time in that it is non-irritant to the skin ofthe user. The soluble substrates, among others are: Carrageenan, LocustBean Gum, Pullulan and Xanthan Gum which will be described in moredetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a dispenser having individual sheets therein;

FIG. 2 shows an interior of the dispenser of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a different form of dispensing in the form of a roll;

FIG. 4 shows a different way of dispensing by the way of interleavedsheets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a dispenser container or casing 1 having an opening 1 a ata top surface thereof wherein the opening 1 a has guide sides 2 thereinas an aid in pulling sheets 3 from out of the casing. It is merely up tothe user to place a finger in the opening 1 a of the casing and on topof the uppermost sheet 3 and pull it forward manually or out of thecasing to obtain a soap sheet for use.

FIG. 2 shows an interior of the casing 1. In the bottom of the casingthere is a spring 21 which exerts a light pressure on the sheet supportplatform 20, whereby the uppermost sheet 3 will always be present at thetop opening of the casing 1 at 1 a.

FIG. 3 shows another way of dispensing the soap sheets, one at a time,by way of a roll 32 which is contained in a housing 31. A multiple ofsoap sheets 34 are contained in housing 31 and dispensed just by pullingon the outermost sheet 33 and tearing it away from the rest of thesheets by way of a perforated line 34. The housing may be placed on acounter in a rest room or it may be mounted on a wall in a public ordomestic rest-or bath room.

FIG. 4 is still another way of dispensing soap sheets, one by one, froma stack of soap sheets 40 which are separated from each other by way ofan interleaved paper strip 42. The soap sheets are interleaved within along paper strip 42 in alternating turns. This way, the soap sheets areprotected from each other and the hands of a user in subsequent uses.Once a soap sheets is obtained, the outermost paper strip may beseparated from the rest of the strips by way of tear line 43 and may bediscarded. The stack 42 of the interleaved soap sheets may be containedin a housing like the one shown in FIG. 1 but having an opening in thetop to be readily accessible by a user.

As mentioned above, the water soluble substrate should be user friendlyto the skin and should be readily dissolvable.

Carrageenan:

The name “Carrageenan” is a collective term for polysaccarides preparedby alkaline extraction (a modification) from red seaweed (Rhodophycae),mostly a genus of Chondrus, Eucheuma or Giga Iridaea. Different seaweedsproduce different carrageenans.

Locust Bean Gum:

Locust Bean Gum (also called Carob Bean Gum and Carubin) is extractedfrom the seed (kernels) of a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua). It forms afood reserve for the seeds and helps to retain water under aridconditions.

Pullulen:

Pullulan is a neutral glucan (like Amylose, Dextran or Cellulose), witha chemical struture somewhat depending on a carbon source, producingmicroorganisms (different strains of Aureobasidium pullulans), underfermentation conditions.

Zanthan Gum:

Zantham gum is a microbial dessiccation-resistant polymer preparedcommercially by a submerged fermentation from Xanthomonas campestries.It is naturally produced to stick to the beams of the cabbage-likeplants.

Gelatin:

Gelatin is obtained by boiling the skin, tendons and ligaments ofanimals. The word Gelatin is derived from the Latin “gelatus”, meaningstiff or frozen. It has no smell or taste of its own but will adapt towhatever is added to it.

1. A soap substance in combination with a dispenser device, said:substance is contained in a water soluble substrate, said substrate andsaid substance being in a dry state until exposed to water, saidsubstrate is in a sheet form, said sheet form may be dispensed from adispenser device.
 2. The soap substance combination of claim 1, whereinsaid soluble substrate is selected from the group of substratesconsisting of Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Pullulan, Xantham andGelatin.
 3. The soap substance combination of claim 1, wherein saiddispenser is a container having a top opening therein and whereinindividual sheet forms may be dispensed therefrom by manual contact. 4.The soap substance combination of claim 3 including a sheet platformplaced within said container which will advance upwardly all of saidsheets when an upper most sheet is dispensed from said container.
 5. Thesoap substance combination of claim 4, wherein said platform is under abias of a spring.
 6. The soap substance combination of claim 1, whereinsaid sheets are arranged in a roll and are placed in a dispenser thatwill dispense a sheet one at a time.
 7. The soap substance combinationof claim 6 including separation perforations formed between individualsheets.
 8. The soap substance combination of claim 1 including adispenser having interleaving sheets therein and every interleavingsheet having a soap substance sheet placed there between.